


Too Cool for School

by Meatball42



Series: Rare Pairs [79]
Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Baking, Bechdel Test Pass, Cultural Differences, F/F, First Dates, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-03-19 22:17:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42
Summary: Dating someone from a different culture can be tricky. It's helpful to have good friends who can give you advice.





	Too Cool for School

**Author's Note:**

  * For [one_of_those_crushing_scenes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/one_of_those_crushing_scenes/gifts).



> In case you haven't seen or have forgotten how intensely cute these two inventors were geeking out in Avengers Academy, have a gander at [this quick collection of images.](https://martinipols.tumblr.com/post/171940558451/my-two-little-geniuses)

Riri takes careful notes on her notepad as T’Challa lectures.

“The gift you bring to the first date must be food that you have made with your own hands. It cannot be bought, or made by another. This symbolizes your sincerity, your dedication to the match, and your skill as a provider.”

“That’s even though I’m a girl?” Riri clarifies.

T’Challa sniffs. “Wakandan dating customs do not differentiate. We are not narrow-minded, like some other cultures. Are you sure you are ready to date my sister?” he asks, eyes narrowing.

“Absolutely! I’m very ready! Your Highness!”

“…Fine." T'Challa resettles his meditation stance before continuing. "It is important that you wear bright clothes on the first date. This shows your spirit. When you greet each other…”

 

“I don’t need any advice,” Shuri tells Tony for probably the fourth time. “I have seen so many American dating movies. I’m not going to embarrass myself, like you do with Pepper. Why would I take advice from you at all, now that I think of it?”

Tony clutches his arc reactor. “Maybe Pepper hasn’t noticed me yet, but that’s because she just hasn’t realized we’re meant to be. It’s not because I’m doing anything _wrong_ , which you will if you try and do what people do on TV or in the movies. That’s all cliche, mainstream stuff. Riri is way too cool for that.”

Shuri actually looks up from the force field she’s coding. “She is very cool…”

“Exactly,” Tony says, vindicated. “Not to mention, most of that crap is from the 80s. I’ll tell you what people in _our_ generation think is good for a first date.”

Shuri chews on her lip for a moment. “Fine. You do work with Riri, and… I would not like to screw this up.”

 

It’s ten minutes until she’s supposed to meet Shuri at the park and Riri is struggling to get these damned cookies off the tray. Baking is _so much harder_ than mechanical engineering. Hopefully, Shuri will understand that and not think that Riri isn't invested in their relationship.

Hurrying the cookies into a Tupperware container and trying to wipe all the flour off her face, Riri hurries out of the dorm and across the quad. On the way, she runs down T’Challa’s list. She’s wearing neon green sandals and a bright yellow dress that her roommate Crystal loaned her, which has way too much gauzy material for her own taste. She’s got the cookies. She’s even taken her hair out of its usual neat style and tried to make it look more natural. She hopes Shuri likes big afros that definitely won’t fit in her Ironheart suit.

Caught up in worrying, she nearly runs into Shuri at the gates of the park. When she gets a good look at the other girl, her jaw drops.

Shuri’s face is alight with contour. Dramatic teal lipstick and eyeshadow draws the eye, and a matching color has been woven into the braids on one side of her head. She’s wearing a Good Charlotte tee with the sleeves torn off, ripped from the ribs down so it looks like a grungy halter top. Tight high-rise jeans that Riri could never imagine Shuri wearing sit just above excruciatingly high, flimsy-looking teal heels.

In Shuri’s hands there is a kindergarten-style card with glitter heaped over what looks like smeared-on glue-stick. Glue and glitter decorate her bare arms and the front of the shirt.

“I… you… look…”

Shuri’s eyes are wide and horrified as she takes in Riri’s outfit. Her nose wrinkles. “What is that smell?”

“Oh, I… I tried to cook you something nice, to show that I’m sincere. I’m not a very good cook.”

Shuri frowns deeply and Riri cringes a little. Then Shuri looks down at the card in her hands.

“Is it ‘cool’ to give someone a card with glitter on the first date?”

“Uh…”

Shuri swears viciously under her breath and spins, glaring around the park while Riri watches in confusion.

“TONY! WHERE ARE YOU?”

Laughter erupts from a nearby bush, and Tony and T’Challa stand up behind it. Both are holding up recording devices.

“I have finally repaid you for years of pranking!” T’Challa shouts. There are actual tears streaming down his face from laughter. “The internet never forgets!”

Tony’s face turns as red as Iron Man and he nearly falls over.

In one move, Riri and Shuri reach for their suits. Shuri’s folds out of her necklace, and Riri’s comes out of the bangles on her wrists.

Tony and T’Challa stop laughing. They look at each other, eyes wide, and start running.


End file.
